


Harry Not Quite Potter and the Avengers

by Reallyjustafanperson



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Gen, Harry potter is clint's son, How Do I Tag, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black is dead, and done with everyone, and heavily traumatised, and will get a new name, clint barton is harry potters father, im not entirely sure yet, possibly, the DA is awesome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:55:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29284893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reallyjustafanperson/pseuds/Reallyjustafanperson
Summary: Lily Potter and Clint Barton met when they were both nineteen years old. Two weeks they had together, but it was enough. These two weeks would eventually be the cause of birth of the most famous person in the entire wizarding world.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Harry Potter, Clint Barton/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 74
Kudos: 204





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! this is my first fanfic I really post, so any constructive criticism would be appreciated. This begins in the summer after both OotP and the Battle of New York (in this fic the battle of New York was set in, say, april.) Clint is not married nor does he have any children other than Harry. All the avengers live in Stark Tower. Loki will probably make an appereance.  
> Word count: 1613

**_1995_ **

Lily Potter and Clint Barton met when they were both nineteen years old.

Lily Potter neé Evans had recently gotten into a lot of arguments with her husband, James Potter, more often than not about the war that was raging around them. James wanted her to get a job at the charms department of the ministry, and maybe do some paperwork for the Order. He wanted her to stay as safe as possible. And the redhead understood, she really did, but she wanted to fight instead of doing paperwork or working on charms that she could make faster on her own than with the Ministry protocols. They didn’t need the money that would come from a ministry job and she would rather fight with the Order and do something to help save people. After their last fight, which was centered around the traitor that had to be in the Order and the risk that Lily would be taking should she fight, Lily had packed her old Hogwarts trunk with enough things for a couple of weeks and left. Not permanently, but long enough to let off some steam and prepare her arguments for when she got home again. Somehow, she ended up in muggle America, often going to bars or simply exploring the area.

Clint Barton was simply taking a break from his work at SHIELD, if you could even call what he was doing a job. He had started working there six months ago, and everyone kept underestimating him. It frustrated him immensely. Yes, he may be nineteen but he was also extremely skilled, way more than the usual newbies. He had fought before and he could and would do so again, and he would come out alive. He had experience and there was absolutely no need to baby him. The people at SHIELD didn’t see this, preferring to follow the rules. (Clint never really understood everyone's obsession with rules. He saw them more as something to work from, and if something happened that called for it, you could adapt them to the situation.) The only person who tried to get him sent on serious missions was Phil Coulson, but even he couldn’t manage to get somewhere. Coffee runs got old after a few weeks and Clint was aching to do something that the world would profit from, for that was the reason he even started at shield (well, that and the fact that he would likely be imprisoned for like, 38 lifetimes. America’s laws are confusing sometimes). He didn’t think learning the standard coffee orders of almost everyone at SHIELD was something anyone would have any profit from. Ever. He had gone away to an area with a few bars, but close enough that he could be at the headquarters within two hours.

This was how these two frustrated souls met. They spent two weeks together, two weeks filled with fun, laughter and more than one night of passion. Lily had told Clint about the issues she was having in her marriage, mentioning how her husband wanted her to play safe and how she had absolutely zero desire to do so. Clint told her about how nobody at his job took him seriously and how they kept underestimating his skills. Of course, he did not specify what those skills were but it seemed to be enough explanation for Lily, who of course kept silent about the magical aspect of her life. They saw a bit of themself in the other, both wanting to do more than they were doing now, both being frustrated at people around them, and this led to a sort connection. Both knew nothing more would come from it, for both guessed or noticed that there were things the other didn’t tell. They ignored that and chose to enjoy themselves while it lasted. Two weeks they had together, but it was enough. These two weeks would eventually be the cause of birth of the most famous person in the entire wizarding world.

Eventually, both had to leave to go back to their ordinary lives, if one can call being a witch or an assassin ordinary. They agreed to not contact eachother again because they both thought Lily’s husband would better be left in the dark. The decision hurt both of them. Clint went back to his job, getting his first serious mission. In complete Clint Barton style, he ended up recruiting the exact woman he was supposed to kill. Natasha Romanoff reminded him of Lily Evans, in more ways than just the red hair. Although Clint couldn’t ever see himself in a relationship that was anything other than platonic with the Black Widow, the resemblance to his fling may have been the thing that saved Natasha’s life. He was not replacing Lily, he didn’t think he would be able to if he tried. They shot up the ranks at SHIELD together, quickly becoming extremely respected by the other agents and becoming trusted by most higher-ups. They both attracted quite a lot of suitors. Natasha choose to ignore them, while Clint flirted with most of the females and a few of the males as well. He never forgot about Lily, though. He didn’t think anyone would be able to do that.

Lily went back to England, working things out with James. They both eventually agreed on Lily joining the Order. She just started doing missions when she found out that she was pregnant. She knew that with how far along she was there was no way that it was James’ child, and that he would know that as well. She confessed to James about her time in America, about Clint. He was angry, but could also see the situation from his wife’s point of view. Once again, they worked through their problems. They stayed together. James had been the one to come up with the idea to tell people that the baby was his, both for Lily’s and the baby’s protection. Harry James Potter was born on 31 July 1996, with beautiful eyes that were blue around the pupil but quickly faded into green and a little bit of brown-blonde hair. At this age, nobody would be able to tell that the little baby may not be James’. She had thought of contacting Clint, but decided against it. His job was important to him and like her, he was also only nineteen years old. A baby would ruin his entire life and any plans he had.

And then the prophecy happened, and Voldemort was after her little boy. The Potters couldn’t do Order stuff except for a bit of paperwork which frustrated them both. On top of that there was a spy in the order, which eventually caused Dumbledore to tell the Potters that they should go into hiding. All of their friends were dying at the hands of deatheaters, and they couldn’t even go to their funerals. They were hidden at one of the Potters’ old family homes, because it already had fairly strong magical wards. Sirius, Harry’s godfather, missed Harry’s first birthday due to a mission, which greatly upset both of them. Sirius was working day and night to keep them all safe, and so was Remus. Remus was suspected to be the traitor, but deep down Lily knew that it was not him, that it couldn’t be him. The Fidelius charm was suggested by Dumbledore begin October 1997. Both her and James immediately thought of Sirius. The curly haired man thought that it would be safer to make Peter secret keeper, and Peter agreed. A week before Halloween the charm was performed, and both Lily and James could breath a little more freely again, thinking themselfes safe.

Voldemort came for the Potters on the evening of the thirty-first of October 1997. The three had gone trick-and-treating earlier that evening, laughing and greatly enjoying themselves. Harry had been dressed up in a pumpkin, not really understanding the holiday but taking great pleasure in the fact that he could roll around on the ground. James tried to protect Lily and the boy that was his in everything but blood without even having a wand. He died at 7:31 PM. The last thing he would ever hear was also something that he would never forget. It was an awful sound, one that many had hear before him and James was convinced that he would not be the last. That madman was laughing.

Lily had been trying desperately to get away but she couldn’t apparate, likely due to wards Voldemort had thrown up, and the floo network was cut from their home for safety purposes, something that was currently having the opposite effect. Lily had ran into the nursery upstairs, blocking the door with everything she could find while always keeping the crying Harry behind her. She was wondering whether Peter had gone willingly to Voldemort, or if he had been tortured. Eventually, she came to the horrifying conclusion that Peter must have been the spu. She, too, did not have her wand. She heard her husband dying and the monster who did it coming up the stairs. He was laughing. Laughing in triumph, madness or simply cruelty? She didn’t know and didn’t really care to find out. And then he got into the nursery.

_'Stand aside, silly girl'_

No, no, no please not Harry. I’ll do anything!

Was she thinking that, or had she said that out loud? It didn’t matter. Harry was in the crib and Lily stood before him, shielding him with her body, ready to do anything she could to protect him.

In her last living moments, Lily hoped that somehow Clint would find Harry.


	2. Harry Potter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A summary of Harry's fifth year, along with his current feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly to describe Harry’s view on things, what he wants and fears. I used his fifth year as a tool to create those emotions in him. This chapter is a bit shorter, so sorry for that. I’m working really hard on the next chapter because that is going to be the first time I really write the Avengers and I don’t want to mess that up. Please comment your thoughts on this chapter, or maybe ideas for the next one?
> 
> Something else, I absolutely did not expect this story to get any attention at all but it did get attention so thank you all so much for that. Comments or kudos make my day.
> 
> Word count: 1303

Harry was used to trouble during his school years. He really was. Weird ass teachers trying to kill him, a gigantic snake, dementors, you name it. The summers consisted out of beatings and chores, something that would make any kid his age stare in horror, but Harry was quite used to it. The summers were the only sort of regularity he had in his life and he clung onto them as if his life depended on it. It sounds weird, but Hogwarts, the supposed safest place in wizarding Britain, had only shown him pain. Not a single teacher (bar the stern Transfiguration professor McGonnagal) ever tried to protect him from the messed up shit he went through while under the headmasters ‘watchful’ eye.

The Dursleys never showed him anything but pain as well but at least while he was on Privet Drive he knew the rules. Harry knew what chores were expected of him and what punishments would follow if he failed to complete them. It never changed and Harry was thankful for that. Oh, once upon a time he would have given anything to get away from his family but Hogwarts had shown him more horrors than the Dursleys could ever even dream of. Every summer Harry was terrified to go back to the school, terrified of the unknown challenges that he would undoubtly be facing that year.

The previous summer, he and his nephew Dudley were attacked by dementors and Harry had to use magic to fight them off. He was moved to the headquarters of the so-called Order of the Phoenix. He got a trial for the use of underage magic and managed to get cleared of all charges thanks to Dumbledore. Dumbledore completely ignored him and wouldn’t even look at him during or after the trial, which extremely frustrated the teen. He did not care bout the headmaster all that much, but Harry thought that especially after the ending of his last year he deserved some kind of information on what was going on.

Something that greatly unnerved Harry as well was that he kept dreaming about the same long black corridor, always failing to open the door that was stood at the end of it, but he didn’t pay it much attention, choosing to try and figure out what the Order was doing or spend time with his godfather and best friends instead while trying to make time go slower to avoid the dreaded end of the summer holidays. The summer at Grimmauld had been filled with cleaning and at least that was something Harry knew how to do. Sure, he was used to muggle cleaning but how different was it really?

At Hogwarts, people had thought him and Dumbledore insane. The Daily Prophet had been feeding them propaganda for the entirity of the summer and by now the mayority of Hogwarts though him an attention-seeking murderer. On top of that, their new defense teacher refused to let them practice any kind of magic. She also had some horrible detentions which involved students writing with quills that carved the sentences into the skin of their hands. It hurt like hell and Harry was sure the scars of those detentions would forever sit on the back of his hand. Harry created an illegal defense club, called Dumbledore’s Army. It was made up out of the students that believed him and who did want to learn actual defense, rather than the bullshit the ministry was ‘teaching’ them. It had been an enormous succes and Harry had a way to do something with his pent up frustration at everyone.

Then, just before Christmas holidays, Harry got some kind of vision of a snake attacking Mr Weasley. what was most unnerving was that he had been the snake. This caused Dumbledore to set up lessons for Harry with Snape because he believed Voldemort was inside of Harry’s head (Harry’s weird dreams were explained now). Those lessons could only be called a disaster for all parties involved. It was a wonder both of them managed to walk out of that office with only a few bruises. After the disasterous end of these so-called ‘occlumency’ lessons, Harry got a vision again.

The vision was of Sirius being tortured at the Ministry of magic. Harry went to save him, Hermione and Ron coming with him. Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley, the three most faithful members of the DA, came as well. Harry found a prophecy and then the deatheaters arrived. It was a trap. Sirius wasn’t there at all. The deatheaters wanted the prophecy so of course Harry didn’t give it to them. He and the DA ran away, trying to buy time for someone – preferably Harry- to get some crazy good plan to escape. Eventually they ended up fighting in a room with a strange sort of veil. Both Harry and Luna heard whispers coming from behind it, the others thought them crazy. The Order arrived, and for some reason Sirius had come as well. Hermione later said that that was the dumbest idea anyone had ever had because _‘He was an escaped fugitive! What did he expect to happen when he would walk into the Ministry?’_ , which Harry silently agreed with, though not for the same reasons as his friend.

Sirius ended up battling with Bellatrix Lestrange. Neville dropped the prophecy. Lestrange hit Sirius with the killing curse, and time seemed to slow down as Sirius’ body fell backwards into the veil. Harry was destroyed. He had just lost the last person he could ever hope to be a father figure to him. He was once again completely alone, the lone orphan, the only person who would never be able to show a parent his grades or annoy them by sneaking out. This death hurt Harry even more than Cedrics had. He screamed and fought and managed to run out of the dreaded room where it had happened.

But even then, the horrible evening was not over yet.

Voldemort showed up at the Ministry. He and Dumbledore duelled, Dumbledore constantly keeping Harry behind him to try and protect him, and observation Harry chuckled over later. Why bother protecting him now, not all those earlier times? Why bother protecting him now, when Voldemort was sure going to kill Harry later? Why bother protecting him now, when all Harry wanted was to follow Sirius straight into the veil? It didn’t matter much. That evening, Harry felt worse pain than he ever had before. Voldemort posessed him and there was not a single part of his body that didn’t feel like it was ripping apart. Harry thought back on Sirius and it hurt even more, when Voldemort suddenly left. Not in time to escape the Ministry officials who had seen him. Harry couldn’t bother feeling even the slightest bit of happiness that now the wizarding world would be made aware of Voldemorts return.

That morning, Dumbledore told Harry of the prophecy. Harry felt numb. He had lost Sirius and now he had learned that he was going to have to kill someone or be killed himself. Be a murderer or murder someone himself. At least he learned why he had to go back to the Dursleys every summer, although he still had objections. Wasn’t Hogwarts the safest place? Wasn’t Dumbledore the only person Voldemort had ever feared? Harry didn’t care anymore. Nothing seemed to matter anymore now that Sirius was dead.

So that summer he went back to Privet Drive, so sad that it hurt, scared for the next year at Hogwarts and hoping that something would happen to stop this horrible cycle that had been Harry’s life for far to long. He prepared himself for yet another summer filled with beatings and chores, not expecting anything special. Oh how very wrong he was.


	3. First Suspictions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kingsley Shacklebolt goes to a party in New York and gets some interesting information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you for everyone who commented or gave kudos, it makes my day.
> 
> Right so I am really bad at writing conversations or people talking. I practice it a lot but it is really hard to keep a natural flowing conversation. I often avoid writing conversations as much as possible but I really needed it for this chapter. I will probably change the writing once I have gotten better but for now this is the best I could do.
> 
> Italics in the first half are Clint’s thoughts.
> 
> Word count: 1728
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

It had been a busy day at the Avengers compound even though nobody had gone out for a mission in more than a week. Everyone had been busy with mission reports or other paperwork, and of course their training. The battle of New York was still quite fresh in everyones mind and it was more often than not the subject of conversations or magazines all over the word. Most of the Avengers could barely go outside without being recognised. Clint was starting to feel a bit like an animal in the zoo, constantly being stared at and people talking about him as if he was not there. He was a bit frustrated with this but he mostly just ignored it.

Clint had lived at the Avengers Tower (previously named Stark tower) since the alien invasion along with the other Avengers, bar Thor (the Asgardian did visit often, though, and those visits were always hilarious. Thor always kept trying to learn about the ‘Midgardian culture’ and Tony and Clint would tell him some bullshit story. The downside was that Pepper and Natasha somehow found out every single time. Those ladies were scary). Life at the tower was never dull. Most of its occupants were skilled fighters and sparring with each other was a favourite pastime at the tower. All of them, especially Clint and Natasha, got missions from SHIELD and they also had to do the paperwork that came with it. And, of course, Tony’s famous party’s.

This evening they would be having a party, but unlike most of Tony’s party’s this would be quite small. Fury was there, which almost made Clint laugh. It was kind of funny to see the director in a party-like setting. Fury had brought his nephew with him, a man in his early thirties named Kingsley Shacklebolt. He had a british accent and was kind of quiet, so Clint figured that the guy did some kind of work for SHIELD. Rhodey and Pepper were there as well, but they kept quiet mostly, both mostly beingt there to try and make sure Tony wouldn’t drink too much. Phil had come, as well as Maria Hill and of course all of the Avengers. It was more like a high-school sleepover and completely in that sleepover style they ended up talking about dark secrets. Well not necessarily dark secrets. Considering the fact that half of the people in the room were asassins, it would kind of ruin the entire high-school like mood. No, they were talking about the relationship dark secrets.

So far Clint had heard more about Tony’s sex life than he ever wanted to, found out that Cap still suffered from his fourties mindset and learned some funny things about alien relationships.

“Hey Kingsley,” a drunk Tony asked “what about you? Are British ladies still as prude as the last one I met?”

 _‘typical of Tony’_ Clint glanced at his boss’ nephew.

Kingsley looked a bit flushed at the question, but replied in his steady voice “I’m not very interested in relationships, but Ho- my highschool was one like any other. The teens were like anyone else, and I must admit that I was as well. I was also Headboy in my time, so I caught more people than I would like to think about.”

_‘Hm. Hadn’t expected that from the dude.’_

Clint decided to add his two cents to the conversation “When I was nineteen I had this thing with a gal from England. Lasted two weeks, shame it wasn’t more.”

Clint knew he sounded way too casual about it, which already seemed weird considering it had been so long ago, but he knew he would never hear the end of it otherwise.

Natasha, knowing that he was talking about Lily, decided to torture him “What was her name?” .

Clint glared at her “Lily Potter”.

The two people in the room he hadn’t expected to react to that were actually the only ones who reacted. Kingsley spit out his drink over a disgusted Bruce and Fury looked a bit shocked. The other people in the room either didn’t care much or were surprised that the two men who had both seemed calm and collected just a second ago could be so shocked by a simple name. Both recovered quickly though, and for some reason decided to interrogate him.

“So, eh, what did she look like?” Kingsley tried to be casual and to most people he would hace succeeded, but Clint was trained in detecting lies and noticed that the darker male was extremely tense.

_‘Why did my comment unnerve him so much?’_

Clint replied, just as casually, “Well, she had red hair. Like really dark red. She also had green eyes that were absolutely gorgeous. She was married, I think.”

This time Steve reacted first “You went with a married woman?”

“Hey, I was nineteen, I didn’t have any morals back then” Clint tried to defend himself.

“You don’t have any morals now either” Maria pointed out (rightfully so, but Clint would never admit that).

“Did she, err, mention her husbands name?” Kingsley asked again with fake casuality, stopping their mock argument. The guy really had been really tense ever since he had mentioned Lily’s name and Clint could tell that Natasha had noticed as well.

His own curiosity had been awakened now and he wanted to know why the guy (and Fury) were so tense about this whole thing. “James Potter, I think.” he replied “We had two great weeks together, but that was all it was. Why so tense?” at his last words the guy dropped the whole act.

“I knew her, and her husband. They married as soon as they finished highschool due to- circumstances.” Clint didn’t miss the way Kingsley seemed to cut himself off and wondered what it was that Kingsley wanted to say at first. “When they were nineteen, they got into a lot of arguments and Lily disappeared for a few weeks. We knew that they made up later, but it took them some time to go back to what they were before.”

“Oh god. Please don’t tell me that I just told a friend of the husband that we agreed to never talk about that she cheated. Fucking hell.” Clint was laughing and wanted to curse himself at the same time.

“The two died years ago.”

Clint stilled at this. He had not been expecting that. With the way Kingsley said years ago, they couldn’t have been older than twenty-five. He was unsure how to feel for it had been ages since he and Lily had those two amazing weeks together, but she had a way of staying in peoples minds.

The room had gone quiet at Kingsleys last statement, some still startled at Clints lack of morals, some surprised that Kingsley knew Clints short fling, and others gazing at Clint with sympathy. Even Tony was silent for a good minute.

“One time someone in this team gets some kind of action and she’s dead. Christ Barton, were you that traumatising?” Of course, not all good things can last.

That comment got the conversation flowing again and the subject was quickly steered away from relationships. The party ended not soon after that and Clint didn’t stay around to chat with his housemates like he usually did, choosing to go to bed early instead. His thoughts went to the redhead that he had known and before he knew it, he fell asleep.

* * *

Kingsley Shacklebolt was not an idiot.

He had been friends with both Potters when they had all been in the Order of the Phoenix and more than once he had given one of them a couch to sleep on when their arguments got out of hand. He remembered very clearly that he had housed James for a few weeks when Lily had gone to America, and some time after that. He had watched the two later to make sure their relationship came out alright, and it seemed like it did for the only time he got someone on his couch had been James for a night a few weeks later. They seemed to have worked through their issues and although it took them a few weeks to get as close as they had been before, that was the last time he had either of them sleep at his house and he hadn’t thought much of it at the time.

Then Harry James Potter was born on July 31st, nine months after Lily’s trip to America and Kingsley had not thought the Potters to be the type for make-up sex. He had had his suspicions at the time but didn’t do anything with them out of respect.

The Potter were killed and Kingsley had mourned them. He hadn’t thought to go after Harry, figuring that Lily and James would have wanted them to go to Sirius or Remus and after learning that they were both incapable of caring for him Kingsley though Dumbledore would place Harry somewhere safe.

When Kingsley had met Harry, it immedeatly became clear that that was not the case. The boy hid it well but it was obvious that the saviour of the wizarding world had not had a happy childhood like Dumbledore had assured them all.

Kingsley went on investigation and found things about Harry’s life, both at the Dursleys and at Hogwarts, that stunned the man. He would have removed Harry from the headmasters care already had it not been for the mans influence and connections. Had it been anyone else who had been scheming this they would have ended up in Azkaban, if they didn’t have their soul sucked out already. Dumbledore was Harry’s magical guardian (how the hell that had happened was a mystery) and therefore had full control over his life. The only thing that would be able to break that control, Kingsley discovered, would be if a biological parent of Harry decided to take guardianship over him. Kingsley stopped his research then, believing both of Harry’s parents to be dead and not seeing another way to stop Dumbledore.

This changed at yesterday’s party. He was sure that Clint had been talking about Lily Potter. He wasn’t sure at all but it was the only chance he was going to get so he took it.

With the trademark loud pop, Kingsley Shacklebolt dissaparated to Surrey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question: do you guys rather have more frequent but shorter updates or longer updates with longer time between updates? these chapters have all been between 1,300 and 1,800 words but I could make them longer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kingsley takes Harry to Gringotts, where he gets the biggest surprise of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the longest chapter I ever wrote and I'm really proud of the word count, less of the conversation. what do you guys think?  
> Word Count: 3013

It was a hot day at Privet Drive and so most people were inside, trying to keep the heat out and drinking as much water as they could. Harry Potter, however, was working in the back garden, trying to save the flowers from Dudley’s gang who had been playing soccer there earlier today. It was still quite early but he would also have to make lunch later today and he was sure that afterwards either Vernon or Petunia would have new chores for him so he tried to work as fast as he possibly could.

Harry had been thinking a lot the last few weeks, about the death of his godfather, about how Dumbledore had said that he knew Harry wouldn’t be happy at the Dursleys but it was necessary for his protection, about the things that had happened the past five years both at Hogwarts and Privet Drive. He had been listening when Petunia and Vernon would watch the news and due to the amount of mysterious disappearances or deaths he could only come to the conclusion that Voldemort was active again.

Harry had started ordering things he thought may help him the next year at Hogwarts because he didn’t doubt that something was going to happen this year. It was mostly books about Defense, but he had also ordered a few other things like protective clothing and healing potions. He also ordered a few muggle self defense books, though he hadn’t got the chance to practice anything yet.

He was mostly waiting until the Order would finally decide to send someone to get him. He knew that he didn’t have to stay at Privet Drive for more then a day, yet it had been a few weeks already. It didn’t matter that they wouldn’t tell him anything, anything would be better than this endless tension at Privet Drive. He figured the Order would want him at the Burrow, but so far nobody had come.

So when Harry heard the loud popping sound that he had learned to recognise as apparation, he grabbed his wand and sat up a little straighter. He heard someone ringing the doorbell and his aunt opening the door and he heard her muffled shriek. His uncle then waggled out of the backdoor at an impressive speed.

“YOU. THERE IS ONE OF YOUR LOT ON OUR DOORSTEP. WHAT DID YOU TELL THEM, HUH?”

Harry blocked out the rest of his uncles words and raced inside, taking care not to trample the flowers he had been working on. He reached the living room and saw his Aunt standing with her back to the wall that was the furthest removed from-

“Kingsley!”

The man in question turned to Harry with a smile. “Hello Harry. I would love to stay and chat with your relatives for a bit” Aunt Petunia squeaked at that “but I’m afraid that I’m on a tight schedule. How fast can you pack?” Harry was happy that they had sent Kingsley, he had always been respectful to Harry. He seemed to be one of the only people that realised that Harry had seen more than most people his age and therefore didn’t treat him as such, which was amazing compared to other members of the Order Harry had met.

“Within ten minutes.” Harry responded before dashing up the stairs into his cramped room and throwing everything in sight in his trunk, only being careful with his Firebolt and the shards of the mirror Sirius had left him. After a bit of thought he put the muggle books in the trunk as well.

Harry went back outside, slowed down by his heavy trunk. When Kingsley noticed he simply waved his wand and Harry’s trunk suddenly felt a lot lighter. “Thanks”

Kingsley showed no signs of hearing him, glaring at the Dursleys instead. They had gone in their usual there-is-a-wizard-in-front-of-me-pose, which was Dudley trying to hide himself behind Petunia, who tried to make herself small enough to fit behind Vernon, who was sickly pale. Harry wondered what Kingsley had done in the time that he had been away but didn’t ask.

“Great, you’ve got your stuff. I have no desire of being in the company of these people anymore.” Silently agreeing, Harry followed Kingsley to the front door.

“You’ve side-apparated before, right?” Kingsley questioned. Harry shook his head. He hadn’t done that before, although he had used portkeys and the Floo-network. These had left him slightly scared of wizard-travel and so he was slightly nervous.

“I had though that they would’ve done that by now, it’s the easiest way to travel…” Kingsley seemed to be muttering this to himself and so Harry didn’t react.

“Okay Harry, you have to grab on my arm tight and not let go, alright? It feels like travelling with a portkey.” Harry grabbed the offered arm and braced himself for the unpleasant feeling that he had felt when travelling with a portkey.

* * *

Harry soon decided that he liked apparation even less than portkeys.

After the last bit of nausea had disappeared Harry opened his eyes and to his surprise he saw that he was in Diagon Alley. The street was a lot less crowded than when he had last been there and there was absolutely no-one who had dared to travel alone. People didn’t stop to greet or talk to others, everyone walked fast and darted in and out of the shops. Most people kept their eyes to the ground, as if deatheaters would suddenly be jumping from out of nowhere and murder anyone who dared to look at them. _‘well’_ Harry thought by himself _‘it has probably happened before’_

When he looked at the shops he saw tons of posters glued to the windows. Some held the message that the shop it was glued to was closed for the time being, others were filled with the same tips the Ministry had sent everyone. Some shops had wooden boards hammered on the windows and entrances and Harry didn’t want to know what had happened to the owners of those shops. This all combined with the tense atmosphere Diagon Alley held made the street a rather gloomy sight and for the first time Harry didn’t feel particularly happy to be there.

“Not a pretty sight huh?” Kingsley had noticed his gaze travelling down the near-empty street and had correctly guessed what Harry had been thinking about. “Everyone is scared of You-Know-Who and his followers, especially after the murder of Amelia Bones. She was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.” He added the last bit after seeing Harry’s puzzled look. “They suspect she was killed by You-Know-Who personally. People don’t know who they can trust anymore, everyone could be a deatheater or imperiused by one, and there are a lot of people that have turned on the Ministry after the events just before your holidays.”

Harry was silently thankful that Kingsley hadn’t said Sirius’ name. The emotional wounds that his death’ had left still hadn’t healed and Harry wasn’t sure how he would feel talking about his godfather.

“Where are we going?” he asked to take his mind off Sirius. “Gringotts.” Kingsley replied. After seeing Harry’s next question coming, he added “I’ll explain later, but it is too risky here.” Harry nodded slightly confused and followed the auror to the impressive building that was Gringotts bank.

The building was, as usual, breathtaking. One could barely feel the tense atmosphere that had filled the entire Alley, although Harry noticed that even here there were a lot more wizards than there used to be. The goblins didn’t seem too happy about that.

Kingsley walked up to one of the goblins and waited patiently until he was done. The goblin put his papers away and focused on the two men stood before him.

Kingsley spoke up after a two-minute staring contest. “I would like to take Harry here for an inheritance test.” The goblin moved his gaze from Kingsley to Harry and slowly got off his chair and motioned for the two to follow him.

Harry was starting to feel extremely confused now but he trusted Kingsley so he followed the man down the big marble hall. They entered a smaller room that was about the size of the dormitories at Hogwarts. There were no windows and Harry couldn’t see where the light came from. The goblin sat down at the desk that was placed in the middle of the room. Kingsley handed the goblin three Galleons and the goblin pulled out a piece of parchment.

“Sit down, Harry. I’ll explain later, I promise.” Harry did as Kingsley said with a little hesitation. The goblin pulled out a knife and Harry immediately scooted as far away from him as he could, panic flooding his veins. “I will be taking a inheritance test so I will need a drop of your blood.” The goblin boredly drawled, as if he had been through this scenario countless times already. Harry was still extremely hesistant but slowly reached his arm to the goblin. The goblin cut his finger, waited for the blood to hit the parchment and then healed the cut.

Harry barely noticed, for the parchment had started to fill with black lines and names from the place the blood had landed. It became a family tree and Harry watched in awe as the people who had to be his parents and grandparents and maybe even great-grandparents appeared on the page. Once the lines stopped appearing the goblin shoved the parchment at him and Harry started scanning the page.

That was when he got the biggest surprise of his life.

Linked to his name, Harry saw the following:

_Lily Marie Potter née Evans (Biological mother) **(deceased)**_

_James Fleamont Potter (Blood-adopted father) **(deceased)**_

_Clint Francis Barton (Biological father) **(alive)**_

Harry stared at the last name. James had blood-adopted him? Does that mean that he was not really a Potter? His parents had gotten married straight out of Hogwarts, right? Did his mother cheat on his fath- no, James? And this Clint Barton… He was still alive! He was still alive and maybe Harry could get to know him, spend the summer with him… He could have an actual father!

Harry was so deep in thoughts that he jumped a feet off the ground when Kingsley put a hand on his shoulder. “Come, we have to go. There isn’t much time, I will explain later.” Harry followed through the enormous hall and they were in the dark mood of Diagon Alley once again.

Kingsley all but ran through the few people who had taken the risk of walking on the street towards the apparation point and Harry, now knowing what was coming, braced himself for the unpleasant feeling.

Once he had regained his balance, he noticed that they were at a muggle airport. Harry turned around to Kingsley just in time to see the other sending his patronus away. Harry knew of messager patronuses, though he had never seen one. Kingsley got Harry’s trunk and pulled out two passports. “What-“ Harry began but he was cut off “Later, Harry. Please keep that parchment out of sight, it may raise unnecessary questions.” Harry stuffed it in his jeans pocket and hurried inside the airport.

He and Kingsley checked in and boarded a plane that would go to America. By this point Harry half wanted to turn around and run away for he had absolutely no idea what was going on any more, but he followed anyway, not knowing that this may turn out to be his biggest adventure yet.

* * *

Once they had boarded the plane (Harry got to sit next to the window, which he appreciated for he soon found out that he did not like planes at all. He was learning more and more unpleasant ways of transportation today) Kingsley turned to Harry. “I can imagine you’re extremely confused right now, but I ask that you let me speak. Questions can come afterwards, okay?” Harry nodded.

“Great. So, yesterday I went to a party with my uncle and a few friends of his. One of them talked about how when he was nineteen, he had a thing with a married lady named Lily Potter. You happen to look remarkably like him, so I went for an inheritance test with you. The man I’m talking about is Clint Barton, who you have undoubtly seen on the paper currently in your pocket. We are going to America to meet him, and we are with a plane to make sure nobody follows us.”

By the end of this speech Harry had sunk into his chair, too stunned to even think of replying. So he did have a dad? Yes, Kingsley just told him that they were going to see him right now. And his mother… everyone he met until now had always talked about Lily like she was a saint and this piece of information did not fit the image Harry had created of her. But wait, what had Kingsley said at the end? Nobody following… was he talking about deatheaters?

“Kingsley, what did you mean with people following us? Are you talking about deatheaters?”

Kingsley shook his head. “Harry, did you know that all magical orphans have a magical guardian?”

Upon seeing Harry’s head shake, he sighed “It is really a guardian, and they have complete control over you. They decide where you live, control your vaults, ect. A magical guardian can only do this when there is absolutely no living parent.”

Harry felt it coming but he asked anyway. “Dumbledore is my magical guardian, isn’t he?” Kingsley nodded and Harry barely held out the string of curses that threatened to leave his mouth at this. He was extremely angry at the old headmaster and if he could apparate he would have done so right now to curse Dumbledore until he would not be able to get up anymore.

He willed himself to focus on anything else and tried asking about his apparent father instead. “I feel like I have heard the name Clint Barton before. Is he magical?” Kingsley shook his head. “No, he is a muggle. He is also a member of a group called the Avengers, they-“ “Stopped an alien invasion! Holy shit.”Harry interrupted. “I read a few muggle newspapers this summer.” He added upon seeing Kingsleys brief look of surprise. “I didn’t really read much when I realised that it wasn’t Voldemort but enough to know a bit what happened.” Harry was a bit shocked upon the relevation that his father was not only a muggle, but a very famous one.

“I’ve got a few articles here if you would like to read about him.” Harry hastily nodded, eager to learn anything about this mysterious man that apparently helped concieve him. Kingsley handed him a tablet and Harry tapped the first link that popped up, silently thankful that he had kept up with muggle technology.

It led him to an article that was called _‘The Avengers; a quick summary’_ Harry scrolled until he saw the name Clint Barton again.

**_CLINT BARTON AKA HAWKEYE_ **

_This man has proven that it is not needed to have superpowers to become a hero._

_Shortly before the alien invasion the crazed Asgardian demigod by the name of Loki used some kind of spell on him. This spell gave Loki complete control over Barton. ‘I was there, in my head, but I couldn’t do anything.’ Barton said in an interview. ‘It was one of the worst experiences of my life.’ Eventually, the spell was broken by Natasha Romanoff. Barton got his mind back and we got to see Hawkeye’s wrath in New York._

_And holy hell, this man is good! His main weapon is a bow and arrow which would not be many people’s first choice of weapon but Barton proved himself to be on a whole new level! He barely seemed to aim and yet, he didn’t miss once. When he ran out of arrows he used his bow to defeat the remaining aliens and showed that he was not just an archer. His combat skills may not be at the level of the Black Widow but he certainly is not far behind her._

_Click HERE for videos of Hawkeye during the Battle of New York. _

_Click HERE for any interviews with Hawkeye. _

Harry reread the short text twice to make sure he didn’t miss a single detail, when he realised something. His father had been held under a spell. The man probably hated magic with a passion. Harry immediately threw any ideas he had about possibly telling his father about the magical word out of the window. He knew that the Statute of Secrecy made an exception for family, but he didn’t want his father to hate him for his magic. Harry didn’t think that he could handle it if this man rejected him.

“Kingsley?”

“Hmm”

“Could you- Could you please not tell him about magic?”

Kingsley threw him a calculating look, before nodding.

“Thank you.”

* * *

Nick Fury was not having a good day. It became even worse when his nephew had sent him a patronus confirming what both men already expected, Harry Potter was not James Potters son. No, the actual father of the Boy-Who-Lived was sitting right in front of him and was for the first time in his life absolutely speechless.

“I- you- I have a kid?” the stunned man managed to say.

“Yes. Kingsley took him for a DNA test somewhere we are sure is never wrong. Congrats, Barton, it’s a boy.” Fury did everything he could to keep a smirk off his face, thinking it might be seen as inappropriate.

The archer opened and closed his mouth, looking remarkably like a fish.”I- uh-“

“He is coming here for reasons that are not mine to tell. You shoud ask Stark whether he’s got place to house a teen. Dismissed.” Fury was really enjoying this way more than he probably should.

The archer continued his impression of a fish but walked out of the office, jogging back to his teammates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you guys think? Next chapter they will meet eachother, I promise.


	5. Chapter five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally meet!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for dissappearing, I had a lot of personal stuff going on and could barely write. I really don't like how this turned out and rewrote this at least five times. Sorry if it isn't what you expected.   
> Word count:3318

Harry slept through most of the plane ride as he hadn’t gotten much sleep the past few weeks, always trying to make his homework or trying to ignore the thoughts that filled his head as soon as he got five minutes alone. Kingsley had pulled out some work of his (charmed to look ‘normal’ for muggles, of course) and had worked on that. Kinglsey had woken him up around twenty minutes before the plane was due to land so that he could prepare himself. Once the plane had landed they were amongst the first few people to leave the plane and head towards the luggage pickup points. It took ages and Harry wondered why they hadn’t just magically transported their luggage to wherever it was they were going as surely that would have been faster than this.

Once they finally had their luggage, they left the airport. Harry wasn’t sure where they were going at first but soon saw that Kingsley was headed towards a big black car. The backdoor opened and Kingsley ushered Harry inside before climbing in after him. The car seemed very expensive, with blackened windows and rich leather seats. There was a privacy screen up so Harry couldn’t see the driver which he really didn’t like. If he couldn’t see someone he wasn’t sure what they were doing or if they were going to attack him, and not knowing that was something that made Harry feel very uncomfortable.

He gripped his wand a bit tighter before getting the parchment that had changed his life out of his pocket, looking at the family tree again. It was hard to imagine that all of these people were related to him in one way or another, that so many people would, perhaps, have cared about him had they only been alive. He glanced at the name of his father again and ran his finger over the word _alive._ Alive… but for how long? Voldemort killed everyone Harry got close to. This Clint Barton may be a highly trained fighter, but he was still a muggle and would stand no chance against Voldemort once the latter would learn of these new developments.

Harry had been so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realise the car had stopped until he noticed Kingsley getting out. He quickly stuffed the parchment back in his pocket again and hurried after Kingsley, who was walking up to a big building. In front of it another man who Harry would guess to be around fifty was waiting. The man stood confident, but not arrogant. It was the stance Harry recognised to be of a fighter, someone who knew what he was capable of, who knew his strengths and weaknesses and how to best use them. The man had a black eyepatch and a long black coat, with a black shirt and black pants underneath.

Kingsley seemed to be walking towards this man so Harry followed him. They muttered something to eachother before both men nodded and the eyepatch man stepped back.

“Harry, that man over there is my uncle, Nick Fury. He is the director of SHIELD and your fathers boss. I have to go back to England before the Order notices that you or I are not where we should be. Fury will make sure you get to your father.” Kingsley said. Harry was a bit surprised that Kingsley would be going back to England at first, but he realised that it made sense. It would be impossible to hide Harry’s dissapearance, but he wouldn’t want Kingsley to have to take the blame. Yeah, technically it was his ‘fault’ that Harry wasn’t in Privet Drive anymore, but Harry would rather face Voldemort and his entire group of deatheaters than ever step foot there again.

“Thank you for- wel, everything.” Harry owed Kingsley so much right now. The other man had come to take him away from the Dursleys, found his biological father and had brought Harry to America to meet him, all against Dumbledores orders. He was taking an enormous risk, all for Harry’s wellbeing. It was something that Harry had barely experienced, the only person willing to take such risks for him (that he could remember) having died protecting him and it was nice.

Kingsley nodded and turned on his heels, back to the car that had brought them here. Harry waved at the car before turning around to Fury. The man looked at him as if trying to read him and Harry automatically took a neutral but defensive pose. He didn’t need someone else meddling in his life, Dumbledore and Voldemort were enough. Fury seemed to be happy with the way Harry had reacted to his inspection and turned around, making his coat billow behind him. Harry followed him into the building while tugging his trunk with him. They got more than a few weird stares, though a lot of the people in the building also seemed used to weird things happening and went back to work.

Fury walked him to an elevator that took them high up into the building (Harry was half reminded of the speed his Firebolt had flown him in the past). Harry followed the man down the hall into an office that, while obviously often used, Harry suspected was not the man’s actual office. It seemed to official for someone who had probably worked here a long time, lacking the personal things like photo’s or other little things. Fury motioned for him to sit down and Harry did, not yet daring to let down his guard. Fury sat down on the opposite side of the desk and finally spoke.

“So. Harry Potter.”

“That’s me.” Harry answered, not sure what the director was doing.

“My nephew has informed me of the situation with your headmaster and the Dark Lord Voldemort.” Harry noticed that the man didn’t shudder at the name, although from the way he had received and adressed Harry he seemed familiar with the wizarding world. Harry started to like Fury a bit better.

“I can not promise you that you will be safe. Those two men are very powerful and we don’t have a lot of magicals. However, I can promise you that SHIELD will protect you to the best of our ability.”

Harry was not sure what (who?) SHIELD was and why they would protect him and he was sure that his weariness must have shown on his face for the director continued with “Of course, the best of our ability is the Avengers team, which I’m sure you know your father is a part of. I owe him a few favours.” Harry nodded.

“My nephew also informed me that you would prefer if the magical world would be kept a secret from said team, at least for now.” The way Fury said that made it sound slightly ridiculous and Harry feared what would follow the last sentence “I can see your reasons for that and I understand why you would wish that and I promise I will respect that wish.” Harry was secretly relieved although he tried not to let it show. Fury continued “However, if I think the situation calls for it, I will inform the Avengers about midgardian magic for I do not wish to lose my best team.” Harry understood this, even if he didn’t like it, so he nodded again.

Fury observed him for a few more moments before he stood up. “We are going to take a Quinjet to New York where I will leave you with the Avengers. Follow me.”

Harry quickly stood up and grabbed his trunk, following the director to the roof.

* * *

Harry soon found out that there were even more ways of transportation that he did not like.

The ride in the Quinjet was a nightmare. The flyer decided that he wanted to impress Fury and had done tricks the entire flight. Harry was used to tumbling in the air, but he had always been the one controlling it. This was something he couldn’t control or even see coming. By the end of the ride Harry had half a mind to break the Statute of Secrecy and blow the thing up (the Quinjet, not the flyer, of course). A good thing was that it was much faster than the plane and they were in New York barely an hour after they left Washington.

The plane landed on a large tower Harry recognised as Stark tower (or Avengers tower, depending on who you ask). Fury looked slightly sick as well though he managed to hide it way better than Harry. Harry looked around and ducked just in time for a red and golden.. something to fly over him. The thing landed in front of him and Harry barely got time recognise it as the ironman suit before a man stepped out of it. Harry knew him as Tony Stark, and it was clear why he would be the first person to come see them. Harry supposed the man would want to know who was entering his tower although the dramatic effect wasn’t necessary.

Stark observed Harry for while, before he gave him a grin that Harry was familiar with. It was the kind of grin Harry himself gave whenever he was uncomfortable, or when Rita Skeeter asked him to smile for the picture that would, eventually, be printed next to an article full of lies. It was a fake smile that was used as a defence mechanism to avoid deeper feelings. Harry wondered what had hurt the man in front of him that caused him to react like that. He ignored his curiosity for now, waiting to hear what he was going to be told now.

No words came, rather a weird sort of nod and a gesture that was obviously inviting them in. Fury stalked in (his coat billowing, of course) and Harry followed. He could see Stark tapping away on some electronic device. Harry was starting to feel anxious. What if they didn’t want him here? What if they found out about his magic? What if Voldemort attacked and he couldn’t defend them? Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by the woman sitting in the room they just entered. The way she held herself reminded him of Hermione in a way. The woman looked at him as if she had seen him before. She seemed to shake her head as if reminding herself of something before coming forward.

“Hi, I’m Pepper Potts. I am the CEO of Stark Industries and babysitter of Tony over there. If you ever have any questions you can come to me.”

If Harry wasn’t reminded of Hermione before, he definitely was now. He also felt a motherly vibe coming from Pepper and he found himself quite liking her. He put his hand up in some kind of wave and gave her a half-smile. That was when Tony spoke.

“Oh I just realised I never introduced myself. It shouldn’t be necessary, but you know… sometimes there are a few idiots who live with their head in a plastic bag. Tony Stark, Iron man, billionaire, playboy, philantrophist. I pay for everything around here but still have money left so don’t hestitate to ask for- anything.” Tony had paused a bit before saying anything and scanned Harry’s clothes. They were Dudley’s old rags and, considering Dudley was more than five times Harry’s width, they didn’t fit him at all. Harry self-consciously straightened out his shirt and looked at the ground. Compared to most of the people he had met today, he looked like a homeless person. Nonetheless, he liked Tony, if only because he seemed to have the same kind of charm Sirius used to have.

Fury sighed and turned around, walking back to the door they walked in through just seconds ago. He looked at them when he reached the door. “I’m sure you guys can do this yourselves now. I have more important business to get to.”

As he walked away, Harry could have sworn he saw him playing Candy Crush on his phone.

He turned to awkwardly smile at the people in front of him. “I’m Harry.” It came out sounding more like a question than the introducton he had originally imagined and he blushed slightly, hyperaware of their eyes on him. Pepper clicked her fingers and stood up.

“Yes. Right. Well Clint is coming up right now so we-“ at that she grabbed Tony’s arm “Are going to leave. I am sure we will see you later.”

Tony added to this with “If you need saving from Legolas, just call. I-“ but he was cut off by Pepper elbowing him in the ribs. Harry was strongly reminded of Ron and Hermione and almost laughed at the idea of his best friends being a couple.

Now that he was alone, Harry slowly felt himself getting more nervous as time went on. How long had it been since Tony and Pepper had left? He hadn’t thought to check the clock. Was Clint going to show up at all? Or had he reconsidered? Thinking about it, Harry realised he was never told what Clint thought of the fact that he had a son. What if the man never wanted to and people had forced Harry on him? What if he was going to be sent back to the Dursleys? Before he could get even more lost in his thoughts, the doors on the opposite side of the room opened and the person Harry had seen in the articles online stepped out. Clint Barton.

His father was standing right in front of him.

* * *

Clint Barton looked as he had in the articles online, but what Harry saw now was that he shared quite some features with him. Harry’s nose was the same as his, as well as his jawline. They had the same build, though Harry was a bit shorter and had slightly less muscle. They had the same hair that permanently looked as if it had been struck by lightning. Harry’s eyes weren’t completely green (something Rita Skeeter never managed to find out, thank Merlin) and had some blue around the iris, the exact same shade of blue that belonged to the eyes that were currently staring at him. It was strange, to say the least. Both of them kept standing and staring at the other.

“Err- Hi?” Harry eventually broke the silence that seemed to get more awkward as time went on.

“Hi. I’m Clint. Your, uh,”

“father. Yeah” Harry finished for him. Harry didn’t know what to do now. What does one do when they find their parent?

They stood in awkward silence for a few more moments when Clint seemed to remind himself of something and walked up to him.

“So. This must be really awkward and weird for you and it is for me as well so how about we do what any sane person does when faced with such a situation?”

“Okay?” Harry was not sure whether the term ‘sane’ could still be applied to him, but he didn’t say that out loud. It would probably raise quite a few questions. 

Okay seemed to be a good answer for Clint grinned and went to open a cupboard Harry hadn’t seen previously. He got a bunch of chocolate of all kinds out of it and motioned for Harry to follow him to the sofa that was stood in the middle of the room.

“Don’t worry about getting chocolate on the sofa, Tony has been whining about getting a new one anyway.” Harry was a bit uneasy with the way they spent money here. Growing up, the Dursleys had thought it uneccesary for him to have any money and he sometimes helped others in the neighbourhood to get some money. He always had to use it to buy food (which, of course, had to be safely hidden under a loose floorboard in his cupboard at all times) and couldn’t afford any luxuries. When he discovered he was a wizard he also discovered that his parents had left him enough money to last him and ten others a lifetime, but his apprehension to buy anything that wasn’t strictly necessary had stuck.

“Right” Clint said, snapping him out of his thoughts “to be honest with you, I have never before discovered I had a kid I knew nothing about and I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you haven’t ever discovered you had a parent you knew nothing about so both of us have absolutely zero idea what to do right now. Am I correct?” Upon seeing Harry nod, he continued “So how about we play twenty questions? It works amazing when getting to know people.”

Harry had no idea what twenty questions was, but he didn’t want to ask as Clint seemed to be under the impression that everyone should know what the game was. He decided to just go with it and copy as Clint did. He nodded again.

“Great. I’ll go first. Have you ever been in a food fight?”

Harry blinked. What kind of question was that? He answered honestly “At my school, two years above me, there were these pranksters. One time they started a food fight and the entire school participated. I was really fun.” It really had been a lot of fun. At some point, most Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and even a few Slytherins had teamed up and thrown food at Umbridge. Harry grinned at the memory of the toad-faced woman with a face full of mashed potatoes.

He supposed he should ask a question now. What was a good question to ask someone? He didn’t know what kind of questions people asked in this game. He remembered hearing Dean and Seamus playing a game like this once and decided to steal one of their questions. “What is the most interesting place you have ever been?”

“Oooh good one, I have travelled all over the world. I think Budapest, I got some interesting memories there.” Clint seemed to like the question. Great. The tension and awkwardness that had been there earlier was dissappearing. Harry grabbed a piece of chocolate.

“Who is your best friend?”

“Ron Weasley” Harry replied without hesitation. Yes, Hermione was a great friend, but Ron and him would die for eachother without a moment of doubt. He decided to return the question.

“Who is _your_ best friend?”

With the same determined tone Harry had used, Clint replied “Natasha Romanoff.”

Harry grabbed another piece of chocolate, settling back into the sofa. He started to like Clint and he really hoped that it was the same the other way around. Harry was also curious about this Natasha Romanoff person, but decided to let it rest for now.

“When you were a little kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?”

Harry had no idea. He had never really thought about it when he had been younger and school had been to much of a torture for him to be able to develop interests of any kind, and when with the Dursleys he didn’t even get to think about trying to get hobby. Even now, at Hogwarts, he had always been a bit preoccupied with dark lords or something like that to really think about what he wanted to do later. He just told everyone who asked that he wanted to be an auror, since people expected that of him.

“I never really thought about it really.” Clint seemed to find his answer interesting.

“Why? Isn’t that all kids want, to grow up?”

 _‘I was a bit busy trying to survive to get to think about actually being an adult’_ Harry thought by himself. He answered.

“I guess I just didn’t care at the time.” Harry shrugged and hoped he looked nonchalant. Clint still didn’t look satisfied with this answer, but he dropped the subject.

They finished their game without any interesting moments, and by the end of it Harry was starting to hope that this may be the place he would finally find family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending is a bit weird but I promise next chapter will be better.  
> Are there any ships you guys would like to see? I am not sure who I want to pair Harry with and I am not sure if I want to pair Clint with someone.


	6. Chapter six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is settling in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit of a mess. I tried, sorry. It’s also shorter than the last one, but I couldn’t for the life of me think of what else to put in here.  
> Word count: 2649

After they had finished their game of Twenty Questions, a voice had sounded through the room. Harry had sprung up, startled, throwing his chocolate wrappers that he had been trying to make paper planes out of on the ground. He looked around for the person that must have spoken but saw nobody. His head had rung with the warnings people had given him over the years, the main one being Arthur Weasleys _'Never trust something if you can't see where it's body is.'_ He had half started panicking when Clint had started to laugh and told him that the voice belonged to an AI called JARVIS that Tony had apparently built into the building. Harry knew about AI's, but he had never heard of one being built into a building and so he was still not fond of the british voice.

The AI had told them that Harry's room was finished (Harry was shocked for a moment that he was going to have his own room in this extremely expensive-looking building but then he remembered how careless both Clint and Tony had been with money and figured one charity-case teen didn't matter much to them) and Clint had brought him to his room, thinking Harry would appreciate some privacy and silence. Harry was not used to people thinking about his privacy and found that he really liked it. He also learned that his room was on Clint's floor.

So now Harry was sitting in his very own room that was bigger than the dorm rooms at Hogwarts, and he wouldn't have to share with four other teenage boys. He had a king-sized bed that was placed directly on the opposite side of the door. It was obvious that the room had been a guestroom that someone hastily tried to make more personal. On the his left, there was a wall that was entirely made of glass and Harry saw that he really was high up in the air. There was a walk-in closet to his right where Harry had found some clothes that almost fit him. He had stored his own clothes there and even after that, not even half of the closet was filled. Harry had put his trunk under his bed and hoped that nobody would open it. There were a few more closets of varying sized placed across the walls, but as Harry didn't have any possesions other than his magical things he had nothing to place in there. There also was a desk with a few notebooks and writing utensils and Harry decided that he would use them to write letters to his friends as he couldn't use parchment without risking getting caught. Next to his bed there was a door that lead to a bathroom. The room was decorated in shades of gray, with a few white streaks.

Suddenly he saw Hewig flying next to the window. He looked for a way to let her in, but couldn't open the window. Quite logical, at this hight, but Harry was to busy trying to find a way to let Hedwig in to focus on that. That was when JARVIS spoke.

"Mr Potter, does that owl belong to you?"

If Harry hadn't known any better, he would have sworn that he heard curiosity in the AI´s voice. Of course, since it was a robot, that was impossible.

"Yes, mr JARVIS, could you let her in please?"

"Certainly." The window opened a bit (Harry was once again shocked at the display of technology that was so much like magic), just enough to let Hedwig in. She flew to Harry's shoulder and started picking on his ear.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry alright? Just- ow- here." he gave her a few treats he had found in his pocket which seemed to satisfy her a bit. Harry felt bad for his owl, realising she must have flown over the Atlantic Ocean on her own. He got her cage out and set it on top of the highest closet having learned ages ago that his owl preferred high places, not unlike himself. He went to lay down on his bed, turning to look at the beautiful snowy owl that had been his first ever birthday present, watching her fly around the room as if judging the space. For Harry, it was nice to have something in his room that reminded him of the magical world, though he did wonder what Clint would say if he found out Harry had a pet owl.

After a while of sitting on his bed, Harry kept getting unwanted thoughts, flashbacks to the Ministry or the Tournament and sometimes he felt like he was entering Voldemorts mind again. To stop this, he went to the desk and decided to write letters to his friends. Hedwig probably wouldn't deliver them for a while, but Harry figured it was a good idea to let his friends know he was safe. It was a funny feeling, holding a pen for the first time in a while. During summer holidays he hadn't used them and at Hogwarts they used quills

_Ron,_

_How was the beginning of your summer? Has headquarters been moved? I don’t know if Lestrange and Malfoy would be able to get into Grimmauld Place now._

_In a few days – or hours- you will probably get the news that I have dissappeared. This is true, but I am at a safe location, brought here by someone I trust. There are people here that will protect me if needed._

_Do you maybe have a few spare quills? I will pay you back when school starts again._

_I hope you have a great summer,_

_Harry_

_Hermione,_

_How has your summer been so far? You mentioned going to France with your parents, how has that been?_

_You will soon hear of my dissappearance. Know that I am safe, but I don’t trust certain people around you so I will not tell you more._

_Could you send me some ink please? I will pay you back._

_Enjoy your summer,_

_Harry_

Harry didn't feel bad about asking his friends for stuff, they wouldn't mind. He went to lay back on his bed again when he shot up, remembering something he had read in his Charms book last year. He raced under his bed, opened his trunk and managed to find his charms book. He quickly went to the page he had in mind.

_'One of the only exceptions to the restrictions placed upon underage magic outside of school is the message delivery charm. Originally invented during the WWII, this charm allows the user to transport a message written on some form of paper or parchment, sometimes even stone. During the war it was used as a foolproof way to deliver messages (A History of Magic by Matilda Bagshot, page 475), but now it is mostly used as a replacement for owl post by muggleborn or -raised students who do not have access to an owl. Underage wizards are allowed to use this charm when not at school, though it is strictly forbidden to send anything to muggles that are unaware of magic using it. In order to perform this charm, one has to move their wand in a circling motion, as if stirring a cauldron, above the paper holding the message they wish to transport. The incantation is: adduct at <full name of the person you want to send the message to>. The charm is famous for...'_

Harry stopped reading. He could send messages to his friends without tiring Hedwig or breaking the law! He went up to the desk and quickly scribbled something under both letters.

'PS: I send these using the message delivery charm we learned about last year.'

Harry first got the letter he had written for Ron. He put his wand above it, moved it in the way the book told him to, and said clearly “Adduct at Ronald Weasley”. The letter disappeared and Harry hoped he got it right and there were no other Ronald Weasleys.

He went on and managed to vanish the letter to Hermione as well. When he had finished, he curled up on his bed, finally letting himself sleep.

* * *

He woke up to JARVIS telling him dinner was being served. He entertained the idea of not going, seeing as he still was really tired, but quickly disregarded it. It would be quite rude to ignore the people who had let him live in their home. He was halfway down the hallway when he remembered that he had no idea where their dinner space was. Hell, these people probably had more than one! How was he supposed to know where to go?

Luckily for him, JARVIS seemed to notice his struggle and directed him through the complicated maze that was the tower. He ended up in front of a room that he could hear voices coming from. Figuring he was at the right place, he opened the door and stepped inside. Instantly, every single person in the room, all seated at a big round table, turned to look at him. Harry was used to people staring at him but it still made him extremely uncomfortable. He looked around, trying to guess the kind of people they were.

He saw Clint, of course, and he was sitting next to a redheaded woman who was probably the person who's stare was the most intense. She seemed well-trained and Harry made a mental note to not cross her. Aside from that, the way she held herself (slightly tensed and constantly checking that everyone was still next to her) suggested she had been through a lot. She introduced herself as Natasha Romanoff and Harry remembered that Clint had said she was his best friend. Next to her, Tony and Pepper were seated.

Next to Pepper, Harry saw someone who somehow reminded him of Remus Lupin, the kind werewolf that was one of the only people Harry trusted. The dark-haired man seemed very smart but also afraid of something, and he looked at Harry as if he should be as well. Harry got to know him as Bruce Banner.

Next to the dark-haired man Harry saw someone with a darker skintone and an intelligent look. He looked around often as if to check nobody was doing anything stupid (something Harry noticed Pepper doing as well). He was introduced as James Rhodes (‘just call him Rhodey’ Tony had told him ‘we all do’)

Next to him, Harry saw a giant. Literally. The big blonde man must have been at least 6'5, if not taller. Harry did recognise him, both from the articles and his Hogwarts study books. That man was Thor Odinson, prince of Asgard and son of Odin Allfather. Harry did a good job of masking his awe.

Next to Thor, another big blonde man was seated. Harry recognised him as Captain America, or Steve Rogers. The wizarding world had played a role in WWII and therefore they sometimes taught about the walking American flag. 

That seemed to be everyone and by the time Harry was done trying to remember their names they seemed to have finished their scan of him as well. They shuffled around a bit, making space for him between Steve and Clint. Harry quickly sat down and saw that Pepper had already gotten him food. It was Chinese take-out, something Harry had never had before in his life. He tentatively tried something from one of the boxes that Pepper had given him and found that he really liked it. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Tony started talking.

"Right so we've established that Legolas has a kid" Harry mentally wondered what Tony had with nicknames "and that he is sitting right there. Now to avoid further awkward situations we are all going to talk to eachother and get to know eachother."

Thor looked confused "I thought Lady Natasha used different words. Did she not say that we would be interrogating the son of Barton?"

Everyone groaned at this and Harry wanted to laugh and run away at the same time. He understood their need to make sure he was not some psycho supervillain, but it also showed that they did not trust him at all. He leaned back in his chair, attempted a grin and moved his head in a way he hoped signalled 'go ahead'.

They seemed to understand him, as the next thing he knew questions were asked at a rapid pace

“How old are you?” a curious Bruce asked

“Fifteen, sixteen in two weeks.”

“Where did you grow up? With who?” Natasha quickly shot at him.

“Surrey, England with my aunt, uncle and nephew from mothers side.” Harry left out how he had been treated.

“What do you like to do in your free time?” Steve wondered.

“Reading, I guess.” That had been a tricky one. Harry didn’t really have any hobbies so he said the first thing that could pass as a hobby that he came up with.

“Where do you go to school?” Tony.

“Scotland.” They asked where, right? Not the name or anything.

“What are your favorite and least favorite subjects?” Pepper asked.

“Err… I don’t like.. chemistry. The teacher doesn’t really like me either.” Potions could be chemistry. But what could DADA be? Fortunately Tony saved him from having to answer.

“What’d you do to him to make him dislike you so much you just started to hate the entire subject?” The man looked seriously shocked and Harry shrugged “Nothing, really.” This answer did not seem to satisfy anyone in the room and Harry started to feel a bit embarassed. He couldn’t exactly explain what was going on at Hogwarts, or what had happened between his (adoptive) father, godfather, mother and Snape. He would have to leave out big parts of it and these people looked like they would know it if he would do that.

Luckily for him, at that moment JARVIS filled the silence.

“Miss Potts is needed at level 43, Dr. Banner is needed at level 67 and Boss, your fanclub has managed to enter the lobby again.”

“Dammit. How do they keep getting in? Pep, we updated the security systems last week right?” Upon seeing Pepper nod, Tony groaned dramatically. Pepper excused herself, as did Bruce, and all three of them left the table.

Rhodey left as well, following Tony. Thor left as well, mumbling something about poptarts. Steve said he wanted to train a bit before heading to bed and headed out.

Harry swallowed his last bite and turned to see both Natasha and Clint looking at him when Tony burst back into the room, screaming.

“WHY AND HOW IS THERE AN OWL IN MY TOWER!” Harry saw Hedwig flying behind him and grinned by himself. Hedwig saw him as well and flew to his shoulder, to great shock of the three others in the room. Harry stroked her and Tony spoke again.

“I- how- what? Is he yours?”

“Yes” Harry nodded. “Her name is Hedwig. Is it okay if she stays here?”

Tony nodded, dumbstruck. Clint was curious about Hedwig as well.

“How did you train her?”

“I didn’t.” Harry answered “A friend gave her to me when I turned eleven. She’s very intelligent. Do you want to hold her?” Clint looked awed and nodded. Harry moved Hedwig to his forearm where she seemed content. He got a few owl treats that had somehow ended up in his pocket and gave them to Clint, who looked absolutely thrilled to be holding an owl.

They (mostly Clint) spent the rest of the evening meeting and playing with Hedwig. Harry showed how she could deliver messages, something impressed Clint greatly. Natasha mostly stayed quiet but Harry found himself quite liking her. The evening was one filled with fun and when it was time to go to bed, Harry almost felt happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ask you once again, what ships would you guys like to see? Not only with Harry or Clint, but also background ships.


End file.
